The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has provided more information on land available for lease at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina for development of a data center powered by a small modular reactor (SMR).
The online procurement notice published Monday in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) now lists 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Jan. 9 as the new due date for responses to the request for proposals (RFP). About two months ago, DOE and NNSA had set a Dec. 5 response deadline, which would have been this Friday.
The administration of President Donald Trump has prioritized development of new data centers to support the growth in artificial intelligence (AI) and wants to build them on federal properties such as those found in the DOE weapons complex. Under the direction of the Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, the administration is also pushing to power the data centers with advanced nuclear power.
Among the cache of documents shared online Monday is a depiction of the Savannah River Site (SRS) property available for “AI Data Centers with Onsite Power Generation.”
NNSA has identified 10 tracts of land spread across 3,100 acres that might be suitable for a data center or electric power generation.
“NNSA does not anticipate leasing more than about 15% of the total acreage” or roughly 450 acres as a result of this RFP, according to the document.
Back in 2011, the Savannah River National Laboratory analyzed three SRS sites, ranging in size from 235 to 460 acres, for their suitability for SMR development, according to the document.
Various 115-kilovolt and 230-kilovolt power lines, some owned by SRS and some by Dominion Energy, pass through the property, according to the document. A DOE-owned 20-megawatt power plant fueled by biomass is expected to continue operating through 2031. Also, two commercially owned 75 MW solar power generation facilities are in development on land being leased from DOE.